A bit dark for tweens, better for teens. Story is interesting, but not interesting enough to want to finish reading it. ( )

-interesting world and magic system
-interesting how all the characters more or less were of dubious morality, including both main characters in different ways
-unreliable narration
-different sorts of point of view were used
-corrupt politicians who are magicians but power comes from demons they summon
-interesting conflicts between magicians and 'commoners' and magicians and demons, has some serious themes here
-it did leave some gaps and things i thought could have been done better but overall quite good
-a lot of politics for a kids book and morally dubious characters arent too common in this sort of book, but it definitely is a kids book not young adult and im sure kids can understand that sort of stuff, i didnt think it was generally more challenging than most kids books
- was slightly dense to read in its style but not that much i suspect im just not used to reading anymore ( )

Enjoyable. ( )

-interesting world and magic system
-interesting how all the characters more or less were of dubious morality, including both main characters in different ways
-unreliable narration
-different sorts of point of view were used
-corrupt politicians who are magicians but power comes from demons they summon
-interesting conflicts between magicians and 'commoners' and magicians and demons, has some serious themes here
-it did leave some gaps and things i thought could have been done better but overall quite good
-a lot of politics for a kids book and morally dubious characters arent too common in this sort of book, but it definitely is a kids book not young adult and im sure kids can understand that sort of stuff, i didnt think it was generally more challenging than most kids books
- was slightly dense to read in its style but not that much i suspect im just not used to reading anymore ( )

Top 3 favorite book series. The grade level is definitely middle to high school- not exactly a children's book. It's young adult/adult for a reason. It taught me a few new words when I read this in High School.

Thoroughly thought out premise, intelligent, original, witty, sassy, 4th wall breaking, hilariously anachronic, and the essence of the story and the characters just erupt out onto the page with self-awareness and cast a spell over you to keep turning the pages. A story told with force, respect and doesn't take itself too seriously- it feels more like a relaxing cruise with charismatic entertainment.

It has an alternating writing style, where the story is told from differing points of view from two different characters. I thought this was original, different, unique and added a layer of mental challenge. There has never been another book like the Bartimaeus trilogy and I highly doubt there ever will be to live up to it. I've never read anything else like it.
This is one of the Greats.
For context: This is the series that turned my reading-allergic husband into an avid reader. This series single-handedly changed someone's preference for reading just like that.
I just love this series so much, and it doesn't deserve a less wordy review to try to convince someone to read it. Please give it a try.

(Although, I have heard it be compared to the ScrewTape Letters- but quite frankly, I am strongly convinced this trilogy is much better. The Bartimaeus sequence cannot really be compared to anything else as much as it stands out and on its own. Stroud's writing style has some similar characteristics to Terry Pratchett's humor/satire, but has a more serious edge to it.) ( )